Whitworth Community High School win Rochdale Music Service High School Choir of the Year Competition

Wednesday, 25 March 2026 17:05

By Catherine Smyth

TWO superb songs saw Whitworth Community High School win the Rochdale Music Service High School Choir of the Year title.

The choir, of around 20 students from Years 7 to 11, recorded ‘Mary Did You Know’ by Pentatonix in December.

They described the song as not the normal Christmas carol and said it was really emotional and gospel in style.

Isabelle Bostock, 13, said: “Rochdale Music Service went through the entries and five were selected for the final.”

The Whitworth singers then rehearsed ‘Fix You’ by Coldplay as well as a Wicked medley for the final at the Salvation Army in Rochdale.

The Coldplay song lent itself to harmony and emotion while the Wicked one allowed the singers to explore presenting a song and so they acted out some of the lyrics.

Lilah-Rose Craven, 13, said: “When you think of a competition, you think of a really tense situation, and yes this was a competition but we were all supporting each other.”

They were up against choirs from Rochdale Music Service, Cardinal Langley RC High School from Middleton and Holy Family RC and CE College, Rochdale.

Isabelle said: “I thought everybody was pretty good. We were probably the biggest choir there and we had high expectations.”

This school year, the choir has attracted a number of boys to the rehearsals every Friday after school. Miss Genty helped to prepare the choir for the competition.

Alice Kowal, 14, said: “I feel we were very different to the other choirs because we didn’t just sing the songs we also presented them, especially the second medley from Wicked when we acted it.”

While the adjudicators decided who would take the trophy, all the singers got to perform two unrehearsed songs ‘A Million Dreams’ and ‘Unscripted’.

Lilah-Rose said: “Although we had never met the people before, or sung together, we all felt like a big family and it was so heartwarming.”

When it came to the results, the Whitworth Choir scored 47 out of 50, and adjudicators commented that the choir had an excellent start to their repertoire, good harmonies and well blended voices.

They noted the contribution made by the alto section which helped the choir to achieve a ‘superb balance’ with dynamics adding to the expression.

Alice, who won a GirlGuilding talent competition, is now setting two songs she has written to music and is hoping to secure a place on week-long music summer school in Huddersfield.